Certain agricultural management practices are known to affect the soil microbial community structure; however, knowledge of the response of the fungal community structure to the long-term continuous cropping and rotation of soybean, maize and wheat in the same agroecosystem is limited.  We assessed the fungal abundance, composition and diversity among soybean rotation, maize rotation and wheat rotation systems and among long-term continuous cropping systems of soybean, maize and wheat as the effect of crop types on fungal community structure.  We compared these fungal parameters of same crop between long-term crop rotation and continuous cropping systems as the effect of cropping systems on fungal community structure.  The fungal abundance and composition were measured by quantitative real-time PCR and Illumina MiSeq sequencing.  The results revealed that long-term continuous soybean cropping increased the soil fungal abundance compared with soybean rotation, and the fungal abundance was decreased in long-term continuous maize cropping compared with maize rotation.  The long-term continuous soybean cropping also exhibited increased soil fungal diversity.  The variation in the fungal community structure among the three crops was greater than that between long-term continuous cropping and rotation cropping.  Mortierella, Guehomyces and Alternaria were the most important contributors to the dissimilarity of the fungal communities between the continuous cropping and rotation cropping of soybean, maize and wheat.  There were 11 potential pathogen and 11 potential biocontrol fungi identified, and the relative abundance of most of the potential pathogenic fungi increased during the long-term continuous cropping of all three crops.  The relative abundance of most biocontrol fungi increased in long-term continuous soybean cropping but decreased in long-term continuous maize and wheat cropping.  Our results indicate that the response of the soil fungal community structure to long-term continuous cropping varies based upon crop types.

    The sown area of winter wheat in the Huang-Huai-Hai (HHH) Plain accounts for over 65% of the total sown area of winter wheat in China. Thus, it is important to monitor the winter wheat growth condition and reveal the main factors that influence its dynamics. This study assessed the winter wheat growth condition based on remote sensing data, and investigated the correlations between different grades of winter wheat growth and major meteorological factors corresponding. First, winter wheat growth condition from sowing until maturity stage during 2011–2012 were assessed based on moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time-series dataset. Next, correlation analysis and geographical information system (GIS) spatial analysis methods were used to analyze the lag correlations between different grades of winter wheat growth in each phenophase and the meteorological factors that corresponded to the phenophases. The results showed that the winter wheat growth conditions varied over time and space in the study area. Irrespective of the grades of winter wheat growth, the correlation coefficients between the winter wheat growth condition and the cumulative precipitation were higher than zero lag (synchronous precipitation) and one lag (pre-phenophase precipitation) based on the average values of seven phenophases. This showed that the cumulative precipitation during the entire growing season had a greater effect on winter wheat growth than the synchronous precipitation and the pre-phenophase precipitation. The effects of temperature on winter wheat growth varied according to different grades of winter wheat growth based on the average values of seven phenophases. Winter wheat with a better-than-average growth condition had a stronger correlation with synchronous temperature, winter wheat with a normal growth condition had a stronger correlation with the cumulative temperature, and winter wheat with a worse-than-average growth condition had a stronger correlation with the pre-phenophase temperature. This study may facilitate a better understanding of the quantitative correlations between different grades of crop growth and meteorological factors, and the adjustment of field management measures to ensure a high crop yield.